


Worth Saving Me

by eerian_sadow



Category: Transformers Animated (2007)
Genre: Community: springkink, F/M, Sticky, cross faction, pseudo-beastiality, pseudo-xeno
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-07-29
Updated: 2012-07-29
Packaged: 2017-11-11 00:26:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/472405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eerian_sadow/pseuds/eerian_sadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prowl was surprised to discover that he actually liked her organic parts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for the springkink community on Livejournal. This is taking far too long to finish, but my research has been _fascinating_.

It had been the discovery of a spider hidden beneath his recharge berth and busily spinning its web between two of the supports that had started Prowl thinking about her. It had been an idle thought as he carefully captured the arachnid and moved it to a safer location--simply _Blacharachnia has been quiet; I wonder what’s happened to her_ and nothing more. He set the spider carefully in the tree growing in the center of his room and thought no more about spiders--in general or specific.

The ninja patrolled with the other Autobots in the afternoon, assisted the local fire department in rescuing a family trapped in their burning home and returned to base. He meditated after his patrol, as had become his custom since waking up on Earth, then joined the other Autobots in the evening for fuel and conversation. Even if he wouldn’t admit it to anyone--except perhaps to Optimus Prime--he enjoyed evenings of fellowship with his teammates and he was strangely sad for it to end when Bulkhead announced that he wanted to do some painting before recharge that night. They all drifted apart, heading to their own sanctuaries for some quiet time--a relative statement in Bumblebee’s case--and Prowl thought that he might read or practice some of the calligraphy the local librarian had interested him in before his shift at the monitoring station.

Instead, the ninja caught sight of the spider again, spinning a new web in the branches of the tree. He watched its progress in the moonlight, more than a little awed at the delicacy and precision of its work, until Ratchet called him for his shift.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

That they would meet again on Dinobot Island wasn’t surprising. There had never been any reports of her leaving the island and, from time to time, Swoop would report seeing “the Spider Lady’s webs” strung across parts of the forest during his flyovers. She never harassed the Dinobots, for which Prowl was grateful, and she never tried to contact any of the Autobots during their visits to the island.

It was a complete accident that they ran into each other at all.

His encounter with Grimlock--he hesitated to call it a meeting, because the young mech rarely did more than posture and remind Prowl that he was in charge--had left him irritated and he had taken some time for himself to mediate before going back to base. He liked the Dinobots, he truly did, but sometimes they were harder to deal with than Bumblebee.

He had just offlined his optics when he heard her angry screeching.

“What are you doing here?” Blackarachnia demanded as he brought his optics back online.

“Meditating,” Prowl replied reasonably. “I could ask the same of you.”

“I live here,” she snapped.

“Yes, I know. Swoop mentions seeing you from time to time when he’s flying.”

“You’re spying on me?!” The Decepticon’s expression changed from irritation to rage. “Did Optimus put you up to it?”

“I would hardly call checking on the Dinobots’ well being spying. And it certainly has nothing to do with you or your presence on the island.” The ninja did wonder if he should be calling for back-up. Swoop would doubtlessly come if he shouted--he wasn’t that far away from their “home”--and the rest of his team would be on the island as quickly as possible if he used his comm link.

But he didn’t feel particularly threatened by her presence.

“Like you actually care about them.” she scoffed. “You Autobots don’t care about anyone except yourselves.”

“I care about all life,” Prowl replied softly. “Even yours.”

Her eyes narrowed at his reply and he couldn’t tell if Blackarachnia was angry with him or not. He watched in silence as she leapt into the trees without saying anything else to him.

It was a very long time before he could still his thoughts enough to leave the island afterward.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The librarian was unsurprised to see him the next day. He had discovered very quickly that he preferred the Humans’ books to their internet for factual information and when he wanted to know something, he went to the library. He had come in and asked for information on so many different topics that the elderly woman didn’t even blink at his requests any more.

“Spiders, huh? Let me see what we’ve got.” The librarian entered a few commands into her computer, then read over the results. Prowl waited patiently as she searched. “I doubt you’ll be interested in any of the children’s books we have on the topic. Is there a specific species you’re interested in or just generalized information?”

“General information will be fine,” Prowl replied. 

The woman nodded. “We have a few volumes that you would probably find useful, then. Let me go pull them for you.”

“Thank you.” he truly appreciated the librarian’s willingness to do such things for him. His touch was light enough to read the books without damaging them, but he was too large to fit inside the building to retrieve them himself.

He only waited for ten minutes before the elderly Human returned with his books. “We only have three on hand right now. Shall I check them out to you or do you want to read over them here?”

It was a valid question. He had, in the past, simply sat on the steps of the building to read his books. He enjoyed the sunlight on his plating and listening to the sounds of life around him while he studied. But he thought that this was a subject best studied in private for now.

Optimus was bright enough to make the connection if he saw the topic of Prowl’s studies.

“I will take them with me, today. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Prowl. I love a young man who wants to learn.” The librarian smiled brightly at him, then proceeded to enter the relevant information into the computer. When she was finished, she handed him the books. “Just come back if you find that you need more information.”

“I will.” Prowl tucked the books carefully into a storage compartment. “Thank you again. You have been a great help.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“Spiders, Prowl? Can’t you ever read about something cool?” Bumblebee’s tone was both mocking and dismissive at the same time.

“I felt it best to learn about my new roommate,” the ninja replied, not looking up from his reading. 

“New roommate? Prime didn’t say anything about anyone else moving in.”

Now Prowl did look up, just to see the confused expression on the yellow mech’s face. With a smirk, he pointed to the spider hanging in the middle of it’s web in the tree. “My new roommate.”

“Ewww! How can you live with that thing?”

He couldn’t resist a verbal jab. “Most days, living with the spider is easier than living with you.”

“That was low, Prowl.” Bumblebee glared at him. “But seriously. Doesn’t it remind you of Blackarachnia?”

“Yes,” Prowl replied.

He turned back to his reading, not wanting to see the yellow mech’s expression any more. Bumblebee stood in his room for a moment longer, obviously waiting for him to say something else. When he didn’t, the yellow bot turned to leave.

“You are one creepy glitch,” Bumblebee said before he stepped out.

Prowl couldn’t help but wonder if that was true.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Since his--thankfully--brief conversation with Bumblebee at the beginning of the week, Prowl had both dreading and expecting a meeting with Optimus. Bumblebee couldn’t keep his mouth closed about anything, and it was a guarantee that he would say something to the others about his sudden fascination with spiders.

And Optimus was smart enough to know that his reading might not _just_ be about the spider in his tree.

So, he wasn’t surprised to see Optimus was standing under the tree watching the spider when he came back from patrol, looking thoughtful. 

“Spiders, Prowl?” The team leader said when he stepped inside. “Is there something I need to know?”

“Truthfully? I don’t know.” The ninja walked over to the tree and stood next to Optimus. “I hadn’t even thought about Blackarachnia since our encounter with her on Dinobot Island, until I found this spider. Now I find her creeping into my processor at the strangest times.”

“I see.” the Prime continued watching the spider. “I never can decide how I feel about her. I want to hate her, because she’s a Decepticon and she’s hurt so many of the people I care about. But she’s also someone I care about.”

Prowl didn’t know what to say, so he said nothing. More than once, Optimus had alluded to a past between himself and the techno-organic Decepticon, but he never elaborated on it. The ninja was honored by this display of trust.

“Every time I see her, all I want to do is tell her how sorry I am. But I tried that, and she didn’t seem to care. All that seems to matter to her is that I feel guilty for as long as possible.” Optimus sighed. “It’s like she wants to be angry all the time.”

“Anger is safer,” Prowl said softly. He understood that very well. “If she is angry all the time, no one can get close enough to hurt her again. She uses her anger like a shield, to protect her from further emotional hurt. Some mechs use duty for the same thing.”

“Yes.” The Prime finally looked away from the spider. “I suppose we do.”

Prowl had been specifically thinking of Sentinel when he made the statement, but he couldn’t deny Optimus’ self-analysis. He had been doing precisely that when they first met. “You have grown past that now. Even when it was hard, you have learned from your experiences.”

“It never feels like it.”

The ninja gave him a small smile. “Inner peace comes with time.”

“Thanks, Prowl.” Optimus placed a hand on his shoulder. “I really didn’t come in here to talk about me, though.”

“I know. ”

Optimus nodded. “I came to tell you that I’ll approve of anything you decide to try with her. She deserves better than what she’s got now.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

He was unsurprised that, after securing Optimus’ blessing on whatever he chose to do, he found himself settling in for meditation in a small clearing on Dinobot Island. He still wasn’t sure what he was going to do--he seemed completely unable to plan anything concerning Blackarachnia--but he knew that he would have to see her again before making any final decisions.

So, he meditated.

He didn’t check his chronometer when he heard her drop into the clearing. How long he had waited was irrelevant.

“You again?” Her tone was all venom, and the ninja was beginning to believe that she layered it on so thickly on purpose. “Why can’t you just leave me alone?”

Prowl onlined his optics and looked up at her with a slightly amused expression. “You assume that my only reason for being here today is to see you.”

“It’s too early for you to be checking up on the Dinobots again.” Her eyes went wide at her words. Clearly, the Decepticon had more of an interest in his comings and goings than she let on.

“They are fine, thank you for asking.” it surprised him that she knew his schedule so well, but he wasn’t truly offended by it. It merely proved that she was as affected by this …situation as he was. “Swoop wanted to know if you were well.”

She snorted in derision. “They don’t care what happens to me. Not after what I did to them.”

“Swoop cares.” He let the subject drop with that affirmation. The Decepticon wasn’t likely to be willing to believe him after only a few lines of dialogue, anyway. “And what about you? Are you well?”

Blackarachnia hissed in anger. “Optimus is putting you up to this, isn’t he? Because no self-respecting Autobot would care about someone like me.”

“I told you before that Optimus didn’t send me. Your life is as important as anyone else’s.”

“Stop acting like you care! Stop acting like it matters!”

Prowl watched, surprisingly anxiously, as Blackarachnia covered her face with her hands and crumpled to the ground. Something inside of him twinged, the way it did when Sari cried, when she started sobbing and he couldn’t stop himself from moving to her side and taking the Decepticon into his arms.

She took her hands from her face when he embraced her and hit the Autobot once, hard, in the chest plates. Then she clung to him as if her very life depended on it. Prowl held Blackarachnia until her sobs eased. 

He stroked the back of her helm gently, comfortingly, for a long while before he spoke again. “You are not hideous. You are not horrible. You are not a monster. You are beautiful and unique and--”

“Save it.” She shoved away from him, and leaped into the trees in the same motion.

Prowl watched her go silently. He reflected on how her skin--with all the denseness of standard plating and a strangely soft give--had felt under his hands and against his body. She was, he decided, more than simply beautiful in the way all life was.


	2. Chapter 2

_She was splayed out on his berth, displaying her physical attributes for his gratification when he came back from patrol. He should have been shocked--both at her completely undetected presence in the base and her behavior--but somehow everything seemed right and almost …natural._

_“Hello, Prowl,” she purred. “I got tired of waiting for you.”_

_His gaze was drawn to the hand she drew enticingly up her thigh. “Waiting for me?”_

_She stood and crossed the room to him, hips swaying almost hypnotically. When she reached him, she ran clawed fingers carefully down his chest plate and over his abdomen. His intakes hitched when she rested them over his interface equipment._

_“I’m tired of waiting for you,” she repeated._

Prowl’s optics snapped online. Almost frantically, he searched the room visually. He sighed with relief when he realized he was alone.

He rose from his berth and walked to the tree. He rested a hand on the trunk, drawing strength from the plant, and wondered what was wrong with him. It was strange enough that he was dreaming at all, but to dream of Blackarachnia?

He couldn’t make sense of it. Prowl couldn’t deny that Blackarachnia was an attractive femme. Her frame would have been considered beautiful even without the organic changes, but he had never been attracted to beautiful femmes before. He hadn’t really been attracted to any femmes before, if he was to be honest with himself. 

He didn’t have any idea of what he was supposed to do about this sudden attraction now.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

He went to the island again.

He was certain that, if given enough time, she would come back to the mainland to find him if he didn’t. The ninja wasn’t comfortable with that idea, as he would inevitably have to explain her presence when she sought him out. However, Prowl was also decidedly uncomfortable with the being here—and strangely excited. It didn’t make any sense.

“Back again, I see.” Blackarachnia hadn’t even bothered to wait for him to enter the woods. She had to have been waiting to see if he would be on today’s ship. “Still trying to pretend this is all about the Dinobots?”

His discomfort intensified into nervousness, and he wanted to bolt into the ship’s cargo hold and hide tree until the departed. With an effort, the ninja forced himself down the dock and onto the shore. “I haven’t been pretending. I am here to see you today, though.”

“How flattering. The Autobot comes to visit poor little me.” She sneered. “I don’t want your pity, Autobot. I want you to leave me alone.”

“Then why were you waiting at the dock?” Prowl smirked, knowing she was lying. “And I have a name.”

“That’s none of your business, _Prowl_.” Blackarachnia crossed her arms and glared at him. 

Prowl walked past her and into the forest beyond the dock. He knew she would follow. “Do you really believe that we only pity you?”

“Why else would any of you Autobots care about me? I’m nothing but a freak or a science experiment to you.” The leaves above him rustled, indicating that she was following him from the trees.

“I don’t pity you,” he told her. “And I do not think you are a freak. Or a monster or any of the other derogatory things I have heard you call yourself.”

“Sure. How _do_ you feel about me, then?” 

He paused in his forward movement long enough to coil his legs beneath him, then sprung into the trees. Blackarachnia looked at him with shock when he reached out and grabbed her arm. Wordlessly—and without really thinking about the action—he pulled her against his chest plates and kissed her.

She gasped as their lip components met, but didn’t fight him. Instead, she returned the kiss hesitantly. They broke apart when Prowl felt a flash of pain and tasted energon; unsurprisingly, he had nicked his lower lip component on one of her fangs.

“So, what was that all about?” she asked as he touched the wound gently.

“You wanted to know how I felt,” he replied, giving the energon on his fingertips a disgruntled look. “I find you intriguing and attractive. You are quite the femme.”

“Is that all I am to you?” Blackarachnia gave him a displeased frown. “Someone to lust after?”

“Hardly.” Now Prowl was offended. He wasn’t that shallow. 

“Good.”

It was the ninja’s turn to be shocked as she pulled him into another kiss. It was much more cautious this time, as he had no desire to cut his lip components on her fangs again. Her lips were strangely soft against his, such an incredible contrast to the hard metal of normal Cybertronian lip components; he thought he might be able to overload just from the gentle way they stimulated his tactile sensors.

She pulled away first, despite his attempts to keep contact, and rested her head against his shoulder. The femme was trembling and Prowl started to pull her into a comforting embrace.

“Don’t,” she snapped. “Don’t touch me.”

He dropped his arms, careful not to touch any part of her body.

“We can’t do this,” Blackarachnia said, something that sounded like regret coloring her voice.

“If this is about our factions,” Prowl began.

“It’s not.” Carefully the techno-organic pulled away from him. “It’s about us not being able to do this.”

“Blackarachnia…” Without thinking, he reached out to her.

Lightning quick, she leapt away. Landing in another tree, she gave him a sad look. “Just go, Prowl. And don’t come back.”

Confused, he watched as she vanished into the trees.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

He pondered the issue for hours after returning home. She hadn’t been upset by his initial advances—however unplanned they had been—so her sudden change of opinion didn’t make sense. He couldn’t think of anything he had done wrong.

It was almost enough to make him ask Optimus about it.

Instead, he settled against the tree and sunk into meditation until Bumblebee came to get him “out of bed” in the morning.

“Hey, Prowl, what happened to your lip?” the yellow mech asked, surprising the ninja with his observational skills.

“How is it that you can see that from across the room and yet be oblivious to the obvious elsewhere?” Prowl replied, attempting to deflect the question.

“Because that doesn’t make good gossip,” Bumblebee replied. “So, spill.”

After a moment’s thought processes, he decided to go with the truth. “I had an encounter with Blackarachnia last night.”

“Ah, slag.” The smaller mech’s face fell into a scowl. “Does Prime know she’s back?”

“He does. We’ve discussed the issue and neither of us feels that she will be a continued threat.” Also the truth, even if that conversation had been days ago.

“And you’re okay, right? You don’t need to see Ratchet or have me get Sari or anything?”

Prowl graced his team mate with a smile. It really was touching when Bumblebee was truly worried. “I’m fine, Bumblebee. Thank you for your concern.”

“I dunno,” the scout said. “It started bleeding when you smiled.”

And suddenly, with terrible clarity, he understood what had gone wrong.


	3. Chapter 3

He went to the island several times to check on the Dinobots, but he was always careful not to stay. Blackarachnia didn’t want him around and he respected that. He didn’t think what was going on between them was finished, but the next move had to be hers.

A few times, usually when he was alone with one of the Dinobots, he felt her watching him and wondered how long it would be until they met face to face again.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It was dark outside when he stepped into the sanctuary of his room. A bit of city-light filtered in through the leaves of the tree and he could see the moon though the open ceiling. It was a welcome respite from the noise and chaos the main room had descended into when Sari and Bumblebee began fighting over a video game.

He was so relieved to be away from them that he almost missed the sensation of being watched.

“Who’s there?” the ninja asked, though he already had a good idea of his intruder’s identity.

“You look stressed,” Blackarachnia said, dropping out of the tree and landing on the ground lightly. “Not getting along with your team mates so well?”

Prowl winced, knowing that Bumblebee’s shouting would have carried much farther than his room. “My team mates are not getting along with each other so well. Why are you here?”

“I don’t…” Her tone started out acidic, but trailed off uncertainly. She looked horribly vulnerable, and Prowl wondered if he was seeing some part of the femme Optimus had known. “I don’t even know.”

“It’s all right.” He was moving before he thought about it, pulling her into a comforting embrace. 

When she didn’t pull away, Prowl thought that all the ground they had lost weeks before might have just been regained.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“I’ve been studying,” he said in greeting the next time she came to him. “I understand what went wrong on the island.”

“Do you?” Her tone balanced between resigned and hostile. “I find that hard to believe.”

The ninja turned and wrapped an arm around her, pulling the hybrid close before she could run away. “You don’t have to hide yourself from me. I understand, and I accept you as you are.”

“Stop with the Autobot platitudes,” she snapped, turning her face away. “I’m tired of hearing it.”

“Very well,” Prowl replied. He raised a hand and placed it carefully on her cheek. When she didn’t protest the touch, he turned her face back toward him.

She made a short, muffled sound of protest when he pressed his lip components to hers. He pulled back and looked directly into her primary set of optics. “I still want this, Blackarachnia. And I am not afraid.”

“You should be. I wanted to eat you.” Blackarachnia frowned sharply.

“I know that.” He pulled her away from the tree and to the table he and Bulkhead had built into the corner of the room. Carefully, he picked up a book and opened it to a page he had marked the night before. “Look. Even in nature, spiders have found a way around that instinct.”

She peered at the illustration for a long moment. “Have you developed a glitch?”

The ninja sighed. “Please, just think about it.”

“All right. I’ll think about it.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

He knew she was watching him the next time he visited the Dinobots. It even seems like she wanted him to know she was there. He flicked his gaze toward the trees once, in acknowledgement, but he didn’t speed the visit. The younger mechs needed him as much—in their own ways—as she did.

She wasted no time in descending on him when he left the Dinobots’ clearing, however.

Her hands were hot against his chest plates as she wrapped her arms around him from behind. Her exhalations were equally hot against his audio receptor as she spoke. “I want you. I want …whatever this is.”

Prowl turned slightly in her embrace to look her in the optics. “Are you certain?”

“Yes.” Blackarachnia kissed him, passionately and without any care for what her fangs could do to his lip components or glossa. Prowl tasted energon in his mouth when she pulled back and knew he had another cut. For a moment he was unsure of what she would do, then she spoke again. “I’ll come to you. Better if you’re close to your medic if something goes wrong.”

Even as he hated the idea, he saw the logic in it. He didn’t want her in the warehouse, where bumblebee would sting first and ask questions later and Ratchet would probably do the same if they were caught, but it made sense to be close if he underestimated her control and she attacked. He was counting on her mind and processor to help counter her organic instincts, but if she wasn’t as strong as he thought, then he would need to be close to Ratchet.

“I’ll be ready,” he replied.

“Good.” She turned him the rest of the way around, so that they were chest plate to chest plate. Her hands drifted down to his aft as she pulled him tightly against her and kissed him again. As they kissed, Blackarachnia sucked on his glossa, and Prowl moaned as he felt energon being pulled from the wound. She broke away a moment later and shoved him back. “Go, before I do something you’ll regret.”

She was visibly trembling, much the way she was after that second kiss, and he knew she was fighting her organic urges to feed—much the way she had been giving in to them moments before with the groping and kissing. It seemed the better part of valor to leave and give her time to cool off.


End file.
